Aggravated assault is by far the most commonly reported violent crime in the United States, accounting for about 70% of the 1.3 million violent offenses reported in 2020. Rates of aggravated assault vary across the country, however, and in some places, aggravated assault is far more common than in others.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation keeps reams of crime data, which it releases both every quarter and once a year. Among the crimes it tracks is aggravated assault, which it defines as “an unlawful attack by one person upon another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury.” This usually involves a weapon, like a gun or a knife.
Using data from the FBI’s 2020 Uniform Crime Report (UCR), 24/7 Wall St. identified the city with the most aggravated assault cases. To make the selection, cities were ranked by their aggravated assault rate; that is, the number of reported aggravated assault cases for every 100,000 residents.
The aggravated assault rate nationwide stands at 280 per 100,000. Among the metro areas on this list, aggravated assault rates are considerably higher and range from 440 reported incidents per 100,000 people to as many as 1,123 incidents per 100,000.
The city with the most aggravated assaults is Monroe, LA. Here are the details:
Assaults per 100k people: 1,123.2
> Number of assaults: 2,236 — 57th highest of 291 metros
> Violent crimes per 100k people: 1,308.5 — 2nd highest of 290 metros
> Poverty rate: 26.0% — 2nd highest of 291 metros
> Population within reporting jurisdiction: 199,081 — 121st lowest of 291 metros
Methodology: To determine the city with the most assaults, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed aggravated assault figures from the FBI’s 2020 Uniform Crime Report. The rate of assaults per 100,000 people was calculated using population data from the FBI.
Limited data were available in the 2020 UCR for areas in Alabama, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, though these places were not excluded from the analysis. Only metro areas for which the boundaries defined by the FBI match the boundaries as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau were considered.
Additional information on the violent crime rate and the population within the jurisdictions reporting figures to the FBI are also from the 2020 FBI UCR. Poverty rates are one-year estimates from the 2019 ACS.
Click here to read These Are The American Metros With The Most Assaults
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